Effective measures for saving energy in your company

In companies, energy costs can often be saved to a considerable extent. This offers the opportunity to improve the company's return on investment and at the same time relieves the environment.

A useful method for systematically obtaining sufficient information about the existing energy consumption profile of a building or group of buildings, an operating process, or an industrial or commercial facility is to conduct an energy audit. This involves identifying and quantifying opportunities for economic energy savings and a final report compiling all results.

The  Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (Bundesamt für Wirtschaft und Ausfuhrkontrolle BAFA), as part of its energy consulting services for non-residential buildings, facilities and systems, supports, among other things, the performance of energy audits for

- small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
- Non-SMEs with an energy consumption of max. 500,000 kWh
- municipalities
- freelance professionals
- non-profit organizations

The subsidized energy audits must meet the essential requirements of an energy audit as defined in Section 8a of the Act on Energy Services and Other Energy Efficiency Measures (EDL-G) and, in particular, the requirements of DIN EN 16247.

Amount of subsidy

• If the annual energy costs exceed 10,000 euros (net), the subsidy amounts to
        80 % of the eligible consulting fee, but not more than 6,000 euros 

• If the annual energy costs do not exceed 10,000 euros (net), the subsidy amounts to
        80 % of the eligible consulting fee, but not more than 1,200 euros

Since 2015, all companies that do not count as small and medium-sized enterprises (non-SMEs) have been required by the Energy Services Act to conduct energy audits in a cycle of four years. Recent market surveys on the effectiveness of energy audits have shown that about half of the companies did not comply with this requirement. The implementation is thoroughly verified by the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (BAFA); the verification phase began in January 2016. Companies that fail to comply with this obligation can be fined up to 50,000 euros.

In an energy management system (EnMS), energy use and energy consumers are continuously recorded and analyzed. The basis of an energy management system in accordance with the DIN EN ISO 50001 standard is the continuous improvement process, which is based on the cycle of "plan, implement, review, improve". We support you in anchoring special organizational structures in your company with the aim of keeping an eye on your energy use and consumers, and of gradually increasing your energy efficiency.

An energy management system is applicable to all types of companies. You decide if you want to implement the energy management system as a stand-alone system, or if you would like to integrate it into an existing management system.

Peak loads in energy consumption depend on when and at which quantities your company requires electricity and gas. For the highest peak load within a certain period, a demand rate must be paid. Thus, one high power peak a year can drive up energy costs.

A load profile analysis can be used to find ways to reduce peak loads. This allows you to reduce energy costs, for example by adjusting the timing of process flows. In addition, the load profile analysis shows the potential savings that can be achieved by permanently reducing the base load, and can reveal unnecessary consumption, such as standby losses or avoidable night and weekend consumption.